[23.06] The Milli-Arcsecond Pathfinder Survey (MAPS) mission

The Milli-Arcsecond Pathfinder Survey (MAPS) is a U.S. Naval
Observatory-proposed astrometric survey mission designed to
observe tens of millions of stars (and other objects) in the
magnitude range 2—14, with a reference accuracy of < 1
milliarcsecond (mas) position, < 1 mas/year proper motion,
and < 1 mas parallax. For the about 118,000 Hipparcos stars,
new proper motions on the 0.1 mas/yr level are expected when
combining the 1 mas Hipparcos positions at 1991.25 with MAPS
data.

The instrument consists of a 15-cm, all reflective telescope
and large format, 8k x 8k active pixel sensor (APS)
detector. The instrument will observe a one square degree
field of view (FOV), operating in a step-stare mode. The
payload will be carried on a modular, microsatellite bus and
deployed into low earth orbit in the 2009 time-frame, with a
2—3 year mission life.

Astrometry at the 1 mas level for the 2010 epoch to 14th
magnitude enables astrophysical research not possible from
the ground. MAPS will support a wide variety of astrophysics
research. This includes astrometric detection of potential
planets in nearby systems (e.g. Barnard’s, Kapteyn’s
stars), detection of long-period, low-mass black holes in
accelerating Hipparcos binaries, a search for recent
Galactic mergers, analysis of the internal dynamics of
nearby open clusters (Hyades, Pleiades, Coma Berenices, et
al.), dynamics of pre-main-sequence stars in the nearest
star forming regions, quantification of binarity and
kinematics of solar neighborhood stars and measurements of
distance to the Pleiades and other clusters as cosmic
distance scale calibrators.